


Even Heroes Do

by springbreeze



Category: Senyuu.
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 03:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5318348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/springbreeze/pseuds/springbreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alba faces his worst enemy yet: the common cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even Heroes Do

**Author's Note:**

> A Senyuu Secret Santa gift for Nana~ :3c
> 
> Happy holidays!

_Our hero is out of order today! Sorry for the inconvenience!_

* * *

“Alba-saaan!”

A bright voice rang throughout the jail, echoing cheerfully off the walls of stone as a small figure jumped out of a hole floating in midair, long pink hair swaying behind her. Dismissing the gate with a wave, Ruki bounded to the inner chamber of the jail cell where a certain hero had made his home (for all that he denied it). “Alba-san, I brought snacks! How’re you doing on your homework?”

“R-Ruki…?” Before Ruki could pull the barred door open, a familiar but cracked voice responded amidst a flurry of wracking coughs. “Ah, don’t… don’t come in…”

Ruki froze. “…Alba-san?” The several lamps that were normally lit at this time of day had been extinguished, and in the corner where Alba’s bed was, she spotted a shivering lump within the blankets. “W-What’s wrong?”

With great effort, Alba lifted his head to blink blearily at the little Demon Lord. “What does it look like?” A violent sneeze interrupted his explanation, and Alba slumped back with a groan. “Of all the times… I haven’t finished the homework and Ros is coming the day after tomorrow… I’m totally done for…”

Without further ado, Ruki turned tail, opened the gate, and dove through it with a scream. “ALBA-SAN’S DYING!”

 “ _No I’m not!!_ Augh—ow ow ow—”

* * *

“My goodness, hero, what a horrible person you are to make an innocent little girl cry so.” Ruffling Ruki’s hair while she clung tearfully to him, the former legendary hero looked anything but amused.

“That’s not my fault!” Punctuating his last word with a cough, Alba glared indignantly, though the effect was ruined by the white sterile mask concealing the lower half of his face. “Ruki! I’m really sorry for scaring you like that, but why did you even jump to a worst case scenario!?”

“But! But…!” Ruki lifted her face at last, eyes still shimmering. “Alba-san, you were saying all sorts of things like ‘I’m done for’ and all that…!”

“I-It’s just an expression… And it wasn’t about being sick…”

“And I thought it was impossible for idiots to catch colds!”

“ _Ruki-chan!?_ ”

“Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised to hear the news,” Ros mused, letting Ruki down at last as she shifted uncomfortably. “The standards for getting sick have dropped considerably…”

“There’s an insult in there and I’m too tired to say something about it.” Grumpily rewrapping the thick comforter around his shoulders, Alba sneezed again. Ruki’s arm extended oddly to pass him the tissue box, to which Alba muttered his thanks. “…Anyway, sorry to interrupt your journey with Crea-san,” he said finally, looking up at Ros.

“It’s fine,” Ros responded crisply. “Ruki did give us both a surprise though, when she landed on Crea out of nowhere shouting that you were on the verge of death or something.”

“You should’ve seen the look on Ros-san’s face, Alba-san! He went completely white and even almost forgot to put the gate suit on—”

“Ruki, how many cans of Fanta do you want?”

“Three!”

“Done. Don’t tell your father.”

“’Kay!”

Alba snickered at their conversational bribery. “Ohh? Thanks for being so worried—gwah! That was uncalled for! And to someone sick too!”

“You seem quite lively despite that fact, hero.” Unclenching his fist and turning away from both Alba and Ruki, Ros strode towards the small kitchenette that had been installed in the jail. It was not quite a proper cooking area, but the shelves were well-stocked with several drinks and snacks. “It _is_ chilly in here though, no wonder you got sick. I’ll make some tea.”

“Oh, thanks…”

“What are you talking about? The tea is for _me._ ”

“Dammit! And if you’re cold, you should wear something other than those short sleeves of yours.”

“Hero, you are a thousand years too early to be giving fashion advice. Contrary to your beliefs, stripes and two belts are not as flattering on everyone as you think they are…”

“Stop derailing every single comment I make! Achoo!”

“Here you go!” Ruki sang, drowning out the sound of gently bubbling water to give Alba another tissue. Having helped herself to a seat on the edge of Alba’s mattress, she stared intently at the bedridden hero who was miserably wiping at his nose underneath the mask. “This is the first time I’ve seen you sick, Alba-san.”

“I don’t usually get sick,” Alba said thickly, dropping the used tissue to the growing pile in the nearby wastebasket. “I guess I was pretty lucky growing up—never had anything serious. What about you, Ruki?”

“Hmm…” Too short to reach the ground from the bed, Ruki’s legs swung aimlessly as she thought it over. “Only once I remember, when I was really little. Papa wouldn’t let me get out of bed the whole time, and he spent the whole time asking me if I wanted anything. It got really annoying.” She giggled at the memory. “He caught my cold right after I got better because he wouldn’t go away.”

“Haha, he must’ve been really worried.”

“All that just for a cold! Ah, but Mama made this really good soup… I’ll go ask her to make some for you later, Alba-san!”

“Oh, really? That’d be nice, if it’s not too much trouble…”

Ros returned then, balancing a tray with three steaming mugs sitting on top. “I made too much tea,” he announced in a matter-of-fact manner, narrowing his eyes as if daring either of them to make a comment. Ruki and Alba glanced at each other briefly, then turned away to suppress their giggles. Ros scowled imperiously, but handed one of the mugs to Ruki with a word of caution. He passed the next one to Alba, and Alba’s eyes widened as their fingers brushed.

“Your hand’s usually cold, but it’s really warm today,” he remarked cheerfully, wrapping his own hands around the mug. In contrast, Ros frowned, setting the tray on the nearby table.

“It’s your hand that’s freezing, hero.”

“Huh? Seriously?”

“Let me see, let me see!” Setting her mug aside carefully, Ruki rolled back her overly long sleeves and extended both arms to Alba, to which he gave her his free hand. Ruki jumped immediately at the contact, a shudder running through her slight body. “Uwah! It’s like ice!”

“…That bad, huh?” A wry sort of expression crossed Alba’s face as he sipped at the tea, and he made to pull his hand away. “…Uh, Ruki?”

Clasping his hand between her smaller ones, Ruki was furiously blowing over them. “I’m going to warm your hand up, Alba-san!” she declared between breaths. “At this rate, you’ll turn right into a snowman!”

Alba’s ears went pink. “Er, no, I don’t think that’s possible.  And you really don’t have to.”

“We can thaw him out by pouring hot tea over him,” Ros contributed helpfully.

“Please don’t.”

“Then finish your tea, hero.”

“Fine, fine…”

At length, Alba gulped down the last mouthful of tea in the mug, which was whisked away immediately by Ros before Alba could put it down. His other hand was feeling slightly less numb thanks to Ruki’s ministrations—a fact that he had not noticed himself.

Alba let his gaze move from Ruki, who was still faithfully blowing warm air over his fingers, to Ros, who had collected the empty mugs and surreptitiously left another box of tissues and another mask on the nightstand, and felt an inexplicable sense of warmth wash through him. Ros’s tea was something. Abruptly, he yawned, and a vague thought crossed his mind. “Oh yeah, Ros… Sorry, I don’t think I’ll finish the homework in time,” Alba mumbled drowsily, falling back against his pillows at last.

“…You’re thinking about that at a time like this?” Came Ros’s incredulous reply from out of view, but a tall, blurry shadow moved into his field of vision. “Well, there’s no helping it. I’ll grant you an extension. Please be prepared to make up the work in full once you’ve recovered.”

“Aye aye…”

“Alba-san, are you sleepy?”

“Uhh… maybe… a little…”

A rustle of movement, and the sensation of the blankets being pulled up to his chin. “The sooner you’re better, the sooner we can start working again.” Ros’s voice, softer than usual, floated pleasantly into Alba’s ears, followed by Ruki’s sweet whisper of “Get well soon!”, even as a sensation of falling into somewhere deep and dark began to drown everything out.

But strangely, he wasn’t afraid at all.

* * *

He was not sure what had startled him awake, but the lights were dim when Alba opened his eyes again, blinking slowly. Once his sight had adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a head of black hair hanging down at the edge of his bed. Craning his neck, a quick glance confirmed that it was indeed Ros, seated on the floor with his back to the bed. Sound asleep, judging from the soft, even breaths and lack of movement. Ruki’s head was pillowed in his lap, and she looked very much at peace with her eyes closed and hands loosely clutching Ros’s clothes, equally asleep.

A rush of indescribable fondness turned Alba’s cheeks warm.

Out of nowhere, there was a soft, distinct sound, and the odd helmet of the gate suit popped out from the hole floating in midair. “Yo, Alba-kun!” The familiar sound of Crea’s voice resounded in the jail cell, before he pulled the helmet off and spotted Ros and Ruki. “Oops!” He lowered his voice immediately, but his bright blue eyes flashed in good cheer. “I heard you caught a cold!” Crea stage-whispered, tiptoeing over to Alba’s bedside. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m okay,” Alba smiled. “Thanks for coming.” Gesturing vaguely downwards, his smile turned apologetic. “Sorry, it looks like they kind of…”

“Haha, don’t worry! I figured that was the case when Shii-tan didn’t come back.” Crea lifted his arms to reveal a bundle of blankets and pillows, and he attempted to give an awkward thumbs up with his hands full. “I guess it’s a sleepover then!” Without further ado, he set about fixing up the blankets and pillows—pulling one blanket over Ruki, then wrapping another around Ros’s shoulders with a feather-light touch that Alba could only marvel at. At length, Crea nodded to himself in satisfaction and beamed.

Neither Ros nor Ruki had stirred at all.

“You’re very, very important to them, Alba-kun,” Crea said suddenly, warmly, with a gentle gaze at the two sleeping figures between them.

Alba laughed softly in response, and did not stop the small grin from spreading across his face. “I know.”

* * *

_Please let us be at your side for anything, no matter how small._


End file.
